Read Willie's lips

Game 6: Mets 2, Braves 3
4-2 for the season

If you were watching the end of the game on SNY, you didn't have to have any real facility with lip reading to understand what Willie thought of that last call. I tend to agree with him-- it seemed as though the ump was cold and wanted to go home, and I can't really blame him. It was clearly warmer at Turner Field today than it was for yesterday's game, but still cold. It's hard to be mad at anyone who was willing to extend the strike zone just a little to get warm. Umpires are people, too.

El Duque pitched really well. It feels important to say that, lest it get caught in the shuffle of a frustrating loss. Sure, he gave away a homer to the first Atlanta batter, but he then retired the next 8 guys he faced. He had 6 strikeouts when he left the game, one for each inning he pitched, and held Atlanta to only 1 run. It's fun to watch him land pitch after pitch. Aaron Heilman gave up two runs that on an average day for the Mets lineup wouldn't have mattered, but today sure did. I can't be mad at the guy-- he's usually so reliable, that Aaron.

Delgado had an excessively bad day (3 strikeouts in his first 3 at bats!), and Wright took 4 trips to the plate finally to hit the ball where he wanted to-- in front, rather than into the glove, of Andruw Jones. Most significantly from the offensive side (and the defense, while nothing inspiring, wasn't embarrassing like it was yesterday) , Reyes was stranded on base twice in the first three innings. That's not what this team usually does, and they all looked pretty frustrated with their performance.

A silver lining was the performance of Ramon Castro, the backup catcher. In his first at bat of the 2007 season, he hit a solo homer (which immediately followed Shawn Green's first homer-- and 9th hit-- of the season). It's good to have someone who can so well fill in for LoDuca when Paulie's knees need a rest.

BJC is picking me up to go to the tailgate at AH's place in Queens at 9 am, so I'll be heading to bed soon. I doubt, however, that I'll be asleep soon-- I'm so excited for the game tomorrow, I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve, anticipating the riches under the tree in the morning.